Brand: Fox Regional Sports
Agency: Cliff Freeman & Partners
Production: Partizan Midi Midnuit
Year: 2000
What makes these spots so great is how they just hit you like a freight train.
Sure the shock value always helps but in this case the presentation is executed so well that the shock value really serves a purpose and it works in favor of the ads, making then fun instead of frightening. Plus, and going on a tangent, in my opinion these are some of the best examples of simple classic advertising that would still work today in a world where our attention span is approaching that of a goldfish.
The Turkey TV Spot was one of the first ads I’ve seen while working in an advertising agency and I was just blown away by it. It is quick, fun and packs a punch. Plus the message is simple and doesn’t get in the way.
And if I had to guess I’d say that the creative team came up with the “Turkey” spot first and then tried to stretch the idea into more spots, hence the lack of equal creative brilliancy between them.
Now, I say this with a grain of salt since I wasn’t there and was not able to get any insight about this campaign other than some articles about the agency and about their work in the industry.
But the signs are all there. The “Turkey” TV Spot is conceptually much richer than the others, having for example a punchline that’s far more interesting than the other 3 spots. When we see punctuation being given we can’t help but to chuckle at the absurd of the situation. That’s good writing, good art direction and good direction. And that’s what makes a Real Ad of Genius.
AD BREAKDOWN
Breaking down these ads we can see why they work so well. First the choice to show what seems to be unadulterated TV channels from other countries was just spot on. Usually subtitles would be mandatory but that would remove something from the ads, the realness or the feeling of realness would just evaporate leaving the ads exposed as just that, ads. Their effectiveness would be crushed right from the start.
As the ad progress we get a sense of being showed something strange but still grounded on reality. We get a familiar sense from the delivery of the speakers and the shot direction is quick to place us (the viewer) exactly where we’re supposed to be. This is an event, a sports event. But which sport? Here is where the different ads differ in terms of creative efficiency, and here we can see why the “Turkey” spot functions so well in relation to the others. From the moment we see the diver we know what’s about to happen. Or so we’re led to believe. It’s when this tie to reality is broken and our expectation is curbed (“What? There’s no pool! There’s no pool!”) that we instantly react with awe and laughter. It’s simple. So simple in fact that it could turn this into a mediocre at best or just plain bad ad. A lesser creative team would just cut to the name of the brand “Fox Regional Sports” and something like “Now playing on channel 99” since they would figure that as the gag is over their job is done, so cut to the brand. And it’s here we can see how and why a good copy can make all the difference. In these ads the copy is spot on as it provides that extra information as well as breathing room after the shocking image shown before - “Sports News from the only region you care about. (dramatic pause) Yours.” - is just brilliant and a very good example of a creative team where everyone knows its place. The copy doesn’t try to sell us another idea or retrace the steps taken explaining the joke. It just does what it should do tying the spot together and giving a little breathing room after the gag and before we can cut to the brand.
Props to the creative team, to the agency and to the client for having the balls to put this on the air.
TAKEAWAY
Reality + Expectation + Twist + Non intrusive & Informative Copy
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A Fun Real Ad of Genius
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